


Paradise Lost

by myeongdong



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Greek gods, M/M, XiuChen - Freeform, and mentioned of taoris, and some sehun and luhan, anyway, but it's mostly xiuchen and baekyeol, idk why I couldn't find it, just a lot of stuff, myths, so don't get your hopes too high up for luhan and kris and tao, there won't be that much of them, there's also Suho and Lay, they're all very dysfuntional I guess, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-10-29 07:37:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20793032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myeongdong/pseuds/myeongdong
Summary: There was once a story told, about the great god Zeus, who in his fearless nature feared only one thing : creation.Once upon a time, people had four legs, fours arms, two hearts, and two heads. They were happy. But Zeus, afraid that they might raise against him, tore them apart and threw them all over the world. From that day, people were cursed to spend their lives looking for their other halves, miserabe and broken. And Zeus looked at them and smiled, because he knew, that with their minds occupied with love, people would never think of rebelling.But Zeus was pride and in his pride lay his destruction.A prophecy was given, in the mists of Dephi city, but as it was as long as time itself, none of the gods paid attention to it. Because twenty one centuries after the bith of Christ, Zeus and the Olimpic gods were still sitting up above the clouds, playing with people's lives.The day will come, the beginning will return. That day, the curse will be broken.That day, forces bigger than greek gods themselves will take over the world, and that day shall see the dusk of the era of gods.





	1. Forward

At the beginning was darkness and for darkness is vacuum it bore the first element. For the darkness is chaos, this is how the second element was born. And for the darkness had always been cold, it created the third element.  
And when the coldness fell upon the grounds of nothingness, bright light came from the skies. And two elements were brought to life.  
For the light lit up and chased up the darkness, in the place of coldness came warmth. And this is how the sixth element appeared. But where coldness and warmth met, steam took over, filling lowlands and narrows with water. And the sevenths element was born. And as nothing had been there yet, but chaos that controlled the creation, in the range it became one with eighth element. As it was the last element to be created, it was bound to give life to another one.  
For when the grounds of nothingness were cleared, element ninth took upon them, and in its glory and power separated the grounds that were warm from those that were cold, and those that were dry from those that were wet. And in that moment the harmony fell upon the lost grounds. And from that harmony the last element was born; the wisest of them all for it was to see the creation that leaned in front of it.  
And it called the upper sphere Heaven, and the lower was named Earth. The wet lands were given names such as oceans and seas and lakes and rivers.  
But not all was good, for the harmony involves balance. And when the tenth element looked to the west, it saw darkness and chaos and coldness. It saw steam gathering on the upper sphere and white lines crossing the dark, chasing the darkness away.  
And it knew, it was good.  
So it let it be. It called the dark part West, and the light part East.  
The East part was peaceful, bring and warm with fire burning up above the upper sphere.  
The West part was cold, dark and dangerous, with white shining falling from the steam gathered.  
It fell to the ground, covering the black grounds in white, cold powder. And when the last element saw that, it called the white powder Snow.  
And when another stroke crossed the upper sphere and hit the ground, the element named it Lightning. And for the lightning was bright, the contrary of darkness was called Light.  
It looked up and focused on the fire ball above. "This shall be called Sun, thus Sun shall be fire." And when it looked down, it saw oceans and seas and lakes and river and it decided they would be filled with Water.  
And then it saw snow being uplifted and carried high above the upper sphere where it rested, equal to the Sun. And it decided, the upper sphere snow shall be called Stars, and the force carrying it there, for the last element liked that act of creation, decided to call it Wind. And there it was, looking around, when it spotted a mite; something neither wet nor dry, something dark but pleasant. And when it took it from the ground and the rays of Sun touched it a green leaf grew. "I shall call it Soil," it thought, lying the dust back on the ground, "it shall make this place beautiful."  
And seeing how the darkness and light fought with each other, it decided to make them equal. Darkness became Night, light was turned into Day. But seeing how Day was bright because of the Sun, it realized the night was dark because of the lack of such. And when it thought of a solution, it saw chaos appearing next to the Sun, stealing some of its light, and then it disappeared; only to reappear again, stealing light from the stars. And at last it appeared in the West and stole coldness from the Snow. And when the Lightning stroke, it stole its', too.  
For before any reaction could be given, a shining circle was hung on the upper sphere, bringing light to the darkness.  
Seeing that the last element named it Moon. And what was to take control over life, the element figured, and would quell the chaos, became known as Time.  
But the element was disturbed. It thought of a spirit, second element, and it decided it was dangerous. For there was no means to control it. And this is how the second element became coursed, to be forever one, forever the same. And it became known as a separate being.


	2. I

I

Jet black canopy was paved with silver stars which light was brighter than the one of thousand diamonds hidden in the darkest depths of Earth’s grounds. Far above, among the silver light, hung two bright objects, separated from each other by millions of years, but yet always tightened together. The Sun and the Moon. The first objects to separate day from night, one co-existing with another, and none able to live if the other dies. A tale as old as time, and forgotten like the sweet dream that disappears the moment first rays of sun chase away the darkness. A tale of beginning, the first breath, first step, first word; of first dream that shapes the dreamer into a concrete form, a form beyond the body, a form of thoughts, ideals, opinions, views and emotions. Something more, than just a mere human being. Humans. A pair of legs, arms, a single head filled with brain that uses only twenty percent of its capacity; beings so mere and small and just as useless like lion’s hunting skills in zoo. Zoo, a place where wild animals are held to entertain people; people who took away their homes, lands, their Earth. Earth, a zoo full of people unknowingly serving as an entertainment to gods.

Gods. Creatures so disgusting and laughable, they themselves became an entertainment for forces greater than them. They were an example of one of very few things that people could do pretty well. Dream and create. They sometimes seemed to be craftsmen, perfected in the art of shaping stardust. Whenever they came up with yet another ridiculous idea, with enough faith on their behalf, it came a true, living source of energy. Like, for instance, gods. An idea so primitive it was hard to take it seriously at first. But then that was where people found peace. In explaining what they did not understand, with the only thing the knew how to do – imagine and name. Names held a very powerful magic within them. They are the first lock to anything, and once this one lock is broken, it only gets easier and easier with other ones. A mystery, once named, is not a mystery anymore. A stranger once given a name, is not a stranger anymore. A danger named, loses much of its dangerous charm. Because the biggest fear seems to always be the fear of unknown. And the easiest way to get rid of the unknown, is to name it. And so, when people failed to understand more and more about surrounding them world, and the fear of unknown was only growing, they started naming things and forces. After having the name, the started creating shapes, features, attributes, and attitudes. And because people were always proud, they slowly started turning their images of gods into those of more human, more down to earth, at the very end, turning their god into a human made from flesh and blood.

That was how life on Earth had been for millennia. Gods were coming, rising to power, and fading; just to be replaced by new ones. In different parts of the world, be it cold Scandinavia, or hot Egypt; and in various eras and centuries, the gods were differing between each other. For some unknown reason, people were never able to create one god, but there were always as many of them as there were groups of people; if not even more. However, the balance was always kept, and even though gods never die, they fade. When the time came, one set of gods was giving their place to the newcomers, taking the well deserved rest, never dying, only fading into shadows of centuries, becoming a mere memory of past ages, then legends and fire camp stories, just to finally end among the pages of history books and be called “mythical.”

This is the life of a god.

_The day will come, the beginning will return. That day, the curse will be broken._

_That day, forces bigger than greek gods themselves will take over the world, and that day shall see the dusk of the era of gods._

⚚⚚⚚

The night was cold, windy, and unwelcoming. There were no people wondering outside, the surrounding was deserted, anyone who knew where to hide from the approaching changes in the weather did just that.

_„Massive fires destroy a major part of the southern forests.”_

_„Despite high temperatures the water in Cheju Strait freezes overnight.”_

_„A strong wind may cause hurricane on the East Sea, near the costs of South Korea.”_

The weather was changing, and everyone was blaming it on the climate change. Never before had there been any fires at this time of the year. Never before had shores frozen at this time of the year. The weather was going crazy, and because no one knew why, people decided to blame the first most possible thing they could name.

Little did they know.

A strong wind started blowing, chasing heavy clouds away, letting the silver light of the moon touch the ground. A shape appeared at the shoreline, so swiftly and silently that not even sand moved when when heavy boots landed on it. The wind was roaming around him, but the tall boy stood unbothered. He was looking up at the moon, silently greeting his love. The wind gently lifted a few grains of sand mixed with flowers that fell from the nearby tress, and drops of water from the Yellow Sea, and sent them up high, towards the moon, as if delivering a gift. He ran a hand through his golden locks, and took a deep breath.

“You two are still so disgustingly cute,” a deep voice brought the young man out of his thoughts. He smiled at the sound of the familiar voice, the one he had not heard in centuries.

“Chanyeol!” a cheerful scream vibrated though the night air surrounding them, and the boy turned around, running towards a man whose arm had already been opened wide.

“You haven’t changed a bit, Sehunnie!” the other cheered as well, embracing his friend, “it’s been so long! I started doubting I’d ever see you again!” the boy said, faking a sob.

“Ever isn’t that long, Channie, don’t be a drama queen, leave that to Baek,” the blond laughed, but then stopped, seeing a pained expression on his friend’s face, “don’t worry, Chanyeol. We’ll find them,” he whispered, placing a hand on the other’s shoulder, “we’ll find him,” he added even quieter, for only Chanyeol and him to hear. He did not want even the wind to hear that.

“I know, I know,” the dark hair boy nodded, closing his eyes and counting to ten. Then he smiled, and his previous mood was back, “I can’t wait to explore this new world! So much has changed!” he exclaimed excitedly.

Suddenly, the temperature around them dropped, the water started freezing, and little snowflakes started falling from the sky. Even the wind turned into ice, hurting the two boys’ skin.

“Hyung! Stop it! It hurts!” Chanyeol shouted into the space surrounding them, and suddenly the icy coldness left the wind. The two boys sighed in relief.

“Then stop wasting time on small talk. Our clock is ticking, the race has started,” a sounds reached their ears, and they looked around, trying to find the source of it. Both of them raised their eyebrows, upon spotting a dark shape seated between the brunches of one of the trees near them. The boy jumped down, and after straightening himself, a shiver ran down Chanyeol’s and Sehun’s back.

Even though the boy standing not so far from them was nowhere near their height, there was a creepy aura surrounding him. As one of the first three elements to ever exist, the elder was emitting with strength and danger. It was hard not to feel respect and fear towards him. His hair was jet black, just like the sky above their heads, his skin fair like the light of the stars up high; eyes were dark like the coldest depths of the oceans, with white circles that looked like snow, distinguishing the irises from his pupils.

“Aren’t we waiting for the rest?” Sehun asked, straightening his back. His normally grey eyes turned darker, the wind started swirling around them, creating a small sand storm.

“Yixing is already waiting for us, and we cannot count on Jongin.”

“Let’s end this, once and for all,” Chanyeol murmured, looking at two elements in front of him. They all nodded, and disappeared in a flash of colorful lights.

_The day will come, the beginning will return._

⚚⚚⚚

Twelve gods were sitting in a massive, circle, white room. The tall pillars behind each seat were disappearing in the darkness, as if marching with the sky, holding the ceiling that was universe from collapsing on Earth. On one side of the room was a pair of massive, heavy, golden doors, on the opposite side was a massive window, with a view on all the Earth, people, and daily routines. In between, in a circle stood twelve seats, each in a different shape, style, and color. On them, sat the mighty Greek gods. At the top, in the golden throne was seated Zeus, with his electric white lightning in one hand. On his right was Poseidon, the master of the seas, and on the left was Athena, the source of all knowledge in the world. That was their existence, their course that they put on themselves, upon returning. The First Era of Greek gods was long gone and forgotten, they were doomed to fade with the arrival of Roman gods. And would disappeared in the shadows of history if it was not for modern humans, who started digging up the past to an extend that the believes in Greek gods blossomed again. And above all, messing with ancient charms is the most dangerous out of all crimes. The Greek gods claimed their thrones back, and although no human worships them anymore, people’s interest, desire to discover, and simple will to rule, is all the gods need to sit on the Olympus, pride and vain as thousands of years ago, playing with people’s faiths once again, turning the world in a stage, people into actors and their lives into their favorite dramas.

But even after thousands of years, there is past still lingering in the dark of the Olympus’s shadows, dark magic of the gone ages soaked into the walls, poison, blood and tears still running in the waters of the mountain’s streams. A prophecy once written does not wash until it is fulfilled.

“Something bad is going to happen,” Athena whispered, and before anyone could react to her words, the candles blew out, the temperature fell below zero, so the air started turning into steam after exhaling, and ice started covering everything in the room. Suddenly, fire appeared around in the middle of the room and creating a circle, it trapped the gods inside. The window opened with a bang and a strong wave of wind hit the room, opening the door.

There, in the darkest, the gods heard steps. Four figures stepped into the room, and the gods gasped.

“Who dares to enter the Olympus?!” Zeus’s voice roamed in the room, echoing in the distance.

“I believe we do not need to introduce ourselves,” a soft and calm voice spoke, and a young man of black hair and green eyes appeared in the circle of light emitting from the fire. The flames moved to the sides, creating a small entrance to the middle of the room. When the four men stepped inside, the flames connected again, preventing anyone from escaping.

“Then, I will ask how dare you enter our grounds?!” the high god asked again, clenching his fist on his lightning. Everyone was seated, only Zeus was standing, and the air was heavy from anticipation and nervousness.

“Those grounds were once ours, do not forget it, oh mighty,” the same calm voice spoke again, nearing the god.

“Why did you come back? We defeated you once, we can do it again!”

“Defeated?” the young boy chuckled, and then his eyes became darker, his pupils widened, and he lowered his voice, “you cannot defeat us, you mere gods! You would not exist if it was not for us. You might have, indeed, made us weaker, but the time has come, to fulfill the prophecy,” the boy said, quietly but clearly. The room was starting to be filled with quiet whines of gods sitting in their seats. When Zeus looked around, they were all moving in their places, sweating, and breathing heavily. Suddenly, Zeus felt it. The blood in his veins started boiling and rushing, his heart started beating faster, and his chest felt heavy. He looked at the young boy in front of his, terrified. “You might be immortal,” the boy whispered, “but we are eternal.”

“You cannot,” Zeus choked, “you cannot do anything. There is only eight of you. You will never get the rest back,” the god scoffed.

“Oh, Zeus, I think you are getting old, and therefore really clumsy,” the boy spoke, and Zeus felt his knees give out. He felt to the ground, and the young man in front of his bent down, “their souls are already free. Thanks to you, your wife, brother, and sister. You all released them long time ago. And we found them,” he whispered, and Zeus’s eyes grew in fear and confusion. “You did not expect that, did you? We will greet your son, and nephews from you and their parents. And for now, I think I will take it,” the boy finished, and tore a stone necklace from Zeus’s neck.

When he did that, the three men who were silently standing in the back the whole time moved forward, and repeated the action, taking three other necklaces from Hera, Athena, and Poseidon. The gods were too stunned to react.

“Your time has come to an end. The era of Greek gods will see its dusk. For the last time,” the green eyed boy said, and they all left the room, leaving it in a complete darkness.

⚚⚚⚚

“Zeus?” a whisper rose in the darkness, as no one dared to even breathe.

“How is that even possible?!” the man shouted, and threw his lightning in the middle of the room, creating a massive hole, “find me these kids! Find them and kill them! I want them dead, and their souls back in my hands! I will feed them to Cerberus myself if I have to! I will throw them into the deepest depths of Tartarus and have them tortured by the Titans! I will let Hades tear them to shreds! Bring me the boys, dead or alive!” he ordered, yelling his lungs out, madness visible in his eyes.

_The day will come, the beginning will return. That day, the curse will be broken._

_That day, forces bigger than greek gods themselves will take over the world, and that day shall see the dusk of the era of gods._

⚚⚚⚚

“Minseok,” the young man spoke, nearing his friend as the set their feet back on the ground, “I believe you should have it,” he smiled, handing the other a long, thin stone with a hole at the top. The lightning stone. Minseok nodded, and took it, at the same time extending his hand to place a twisted shell on the boy’s hand.

“And this is yours, Yixing,” he whispered, looking his friend in the eyes.

“We’ll find them, hyung, don’t worry,” Yixing smiled softly, and placed a hand on Minseok’s shoulder. The older instantly calmed down, but he was well aware that it was only his friend’s trick.

“Now that they know about them, they will want to kill them,” Minseok said.

Yixing observed his friend for a while, deeply in thoughts. Minseok’s expression was blank, washed out of any emotions, as if his muscles forgot how to move. His lips moved neither up nor down, there were no wrinkles around his eyes anymore that would always form while he was laughing. The only evidence that Minseok was not completely dead were his eyes. Orbs as black as nothingness, that were filled with nothing but pain, sadness, and fear.

As much as the other wanted to hide that, there was nothing anyone could hide from Yixing.

“Then we will get to them first,” he promised, tightening the hold on the other’s shoulder.

He looked up, and was met with determinate gazes of both Chanyeol and Sehun.

⚚⚚⚚

“I hate these trips to museum,” Jongdae mumbled to Baekhyun, as they were moving to the next set of sculptures, “it’s the third time this semester, they should try harder to figure out what to do with us,” he ranted, “I mean, it’s not like we’re paying for this stupid University, or something,” he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes, “I swear our money goes to the teachers’ monthly supply of donuts.”

His friend only hummed, and readjusting his glasses he turned the page in the book he had been reading. Jongdae raised his eyebrows, feeling deeply hurt by being ignored by his best friend, but then only rolled his eyes, and shrugged. He looked around, and after making sure that none of the teachers was looking, he sneaked out and decided to looked around the museum on his own. It is not like there was anything there that could actually grab his attention, as he knew the building like the palm of his hand, having been coming there a lot in the past, then spending there hours writing his history assignments, and having been dragged there by school already twice in one semester, now being his third time. All in all, Jongdae might have visited the Museum of Ancient Worlds over two hundred times. His favorite part of the building was always ancient Greece. Since he was a young child, he had always shown a deep interest with that region of the world. Instead of bedtime stories, he would always ask his mother to read him myths of ancient gods, and brave heroes. He always dreamt of being one. Whenever given an assignment at school to prepare a presentation about someone they admired, in comparison to other children, who would talk about celebrities, politicians or their parents, Jongdae was always talking about one of the half gods, or other brave characters from ancient history. His favorite movie had always been Hercules, and although he did not understand his mania with ancient Greece, he had always felt like there was one more mystery to be discovered about it. That was why he was where he was at this point in his life. A student of the Seoul National University, majoring in Ancient Studies, his specialization being Ancient Greece. He often found himself wondering why exactly was he doing what he was doing. Studying so like this, a career without any chances of ever finding a job. But in such moments he would always call his best friend and partner in making terrible life decisions, and they would laugh that in the worst case scenario, at least they will not be alone, because they will have each other.

Two history geeks, two freaks, two socially awkward young adults, two lost souls looking for something that none of them can name, two being wanting answers, two best friends who had never left each other’s side since the moment they met when they were a few months old.

Jongdae sat at his favorite sofa, in his favorite spot, and took out an already severely destroyed book with a countless number of bookmarks, dog’s ears, underlines, drawings, and side notes. Mythology. He smiled to himself and before opening the book, he looked around. His eyes landed on a massive sculpture of Zeus, who was looking down right at him. Or at least that was what Jongdae had felt the first time his eyes landed on the massive figure from the white stone. At first, as a small boy, he was terrified of it. He felt as if the god’s eyes were following his every movement, counting his every breath, and his hands were trying to reach him each time he turned around. It took him some time to realize it was nothing more than a lifeless sculpture. Now, whenever he fears something, he thinks of this Zeus, and he calms down.

When Jongdae opened the book, his slim fingers quickly flipped through the pages, and stopped on page 394. _Ancient prophecies_. This was one a few aspects that really had Jongdae interested. Not only because he found them especially intriguing, but mostly because Baekhyun hated them. He chuckled to himself, as he thought of their first classes in which they talked about prophecies, and the teacher’s confusion when Baekhyun suddenly stood up and left the room, telling him that those prophecies were nothing but stories made up by old whores who were high all their lives, and there was no logic or sense, or actual, proper background to them, and instead of constantly calling them “prophecies,” it should be finally established that these were lies, and for once openly admit that ancient Greeks were morons. That was probably the first time Jongdae had ever heard Baekhyun use the word “moron,” and he was teasing him about it for weeks.

He partly agreed with Baekhyun, but he also believed his friend was taking everything too seriously, especially when it came to academics. Baekhyun did not believe anything that was not backed up with logical explanations, scientific proves, or did not make sense. It was hard for Jongdae at the beginning, but he realized that was who Baekhyun was, and he had to love him for that. Beside, he himself did not need logic for almost anything, he was fine with things not having a solid explanation, and more than anything he loved when nothing was making sense. He liked chaos.

They were making a perfect duo, being like day and night, not only in their views, opinions, and system of believes, but also in clearly physical aspect.

Jongdae had hair as dark as ebony, his eyes were the color of dark, heavy clouds that cover the sky just before the storm, and his lips were slightly curled in the corner, making him appear to be always slightly smiling. Baekhyun, on the other hand, had light, as if silver hair, and Jongdae did not know how, but the boy had had them since forever, which was weird because it was not a normal color. His eyes were light grey, with a light circle on the outer side on pupils, and his expression was mostly blank, or focused.

But even though they were so different, Jongdae was not sure there was anyone in the world he would be more similar to than Baekhyun.

“Dae,” he heard a familiar voice, and when he looked up he saw Baekhyun standing in the entrance to the room, “the teachers are looking for you, you’re screwed again,” he continued, and laughed a bit at the end.

Jongdae sighed, “heavens hate me, I swear,” he mumbled, closing the book and throwing it back into his bagpack, “are you done here?” he asked, joining Baek at the door. The other nodded, and they started walking towards the exit.

As was expected, Jongdae was scolded once again, but he only shrugged at it, and after spending ten minutes of his life listening to his teach just to be given detention at the end, he left the building with his friend.

“Ugh, it’s raining again,” Baekhyun mumbled, throwing a hood over his head.

“I think there’s gonna be a storm, actually,” Jongdae hummed, looking up at the sky, and as the words left his lips the first lighting stroke.

“Did you really have to?! It always happens! Cannot you keep your mouth shut for once?!” Baekhyun exclaimed, wrinkling his nose.

Jongdae laughed loudly, and the sound echoed in the buildings around them, “don’t worry baby, I’ll keep you out of the harms way,” he cooed, throwing an arm around his friend as they started their walk home.

Jongdae will always find it adorable, how terrified of storms Baekhyun is.

⚚⚚⚚

“Are you sure it’s them?” Chanyeol asked, “at least they’re together,” he said quietly, more to himself then his partner.

They were standing at the bottom of the stair that led to the museum gate, and were eyeing a pair of boys that had just passed them. One of them was laughing madly, and the other kept on scolding him.

“I’m sure of it,” Minseok whispered.

He would be able to recognize this laughter even in hell.

* * *

* * *

~ Hello ! *waves*

Thank you for being patient! Thank you for subscribing, and thank you for believing in this story! I hope the first chapter did not disappoint you!

Please, comment and tell me what you think of it ~ I'd really appreciate it :) 

Take care, and until the next time ~


	3. II

II

Jongdae woke up with sweat streaming down his forehead. He groaned, and started tossing and turning in his bed. When he looked at the clock it showed two in the morning. Whining, he sat up and ran and hand through his hair. The boy blinked a few times, trying to chase the nightmare away. A few minutes later, Jongdae got up and left his room to grab some water. While passing a library, he saw the light was on inside.

“Baekhyun?” he asked surprised, upon spotting the older in a chair, with a book in his hands. The silver haired male looked up, and readjusted his glasses. “What are you doing here?” Jongdae continued, sitting in the other chair.

“Couldn’t sleep. I had weird nightmares,” Baekhyun explained slowly, looking down at the pages once again. Jongdae took the book from his friend’s hands, and raised his eyebrows.

“What, in the name of all the gods, nightmares did you have that made you grab a book about Mesopotamia?!” he asked surprised.

“There was a man in my dream,” the older started, “he was on fire. However, he was not burning. He had wings, like a phoenix.”

“Wait, what?” Jongdae whispered, and standing up he ran to his room and back, holding a pile of papers. “Like this?” he asked, showing his friend one of his paintings.

On a deserted wasteland, stood a tall man, who was being swallowed by flames. And just like Baekhyun described, he had wings of fire stretching behind him.

“Who is that?” the silver haired boy mumbled.

“I have no idea. But I saw him in my dreams as well. Many times. Him, and some other people.”

“There was a sign, as well,” Baekhyun added, “or two, I am not really sure whether they were actually any particular shapes or just my imagination. But it has been happening for some time, and I cannot take it anymore. I need to know.”

Jongdae chuckled, smiling at his friend, “so what? You’ve decided to research all the ancient myths?”

“This is exactly what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks,” Baekhyun nodded, turning the page.

“And how is it going?”

“Would be going much better if you weren’t talking, Jongdae, or even more, if you weren’t here at all,” he mumbled, biting on his bottom lip.

“Alright, alright! I’m going back to bed, after all, I have detention tomorrow, gotta be –“

“Yes, yes, Jongdae, please, stop talking!”

Jongdae only raised his hands in a defeated manner and quickly left the library, giggling to himself.

When the door shut behind the younger, Baekhyun let out a breath he had been holding, and looked down at the pages, again.

_The First Gods_

_At the beginning was darkness and for darkness is vaccum it bore the first element. For the darkness is chaos, this is how the second element was born. And for the darkness had always been cold, it created the third element._   
_And when the coldness fell upon the grounds of nothingness, bright light came from the skies. And two elements were brought to life._   
_For the light lit up and chansed up the darkness, in the place of coldness came warmth. And this is how the sixth element appeared. But where coldness and warmth met, steam took over, filling lowlands and narrows with water. And the sevenths element was born. And as nothing had been there yet, but chaos that controlled the creation, in the range it became one with eighth element. As it was the last element to be created, it was bound to give life to another one._   
_For when the grounds of nothingness were cleared, element nineth took upon them, and in its glory and power seperated the grounds that were warm from those that were cold, and those that were dry from those that were wet. And in that moment the harmony fell upon the lost grounds. And from that harmony the last element was born; the wisesed of them all for it was to see the creation that leaned in front of it._   
_And it called the upper sphere Heaven, and the lower was named Earth. The wet lands were given names such as oceans and seas and lakes and rivers._   
_But not all was good, for the harmony involves balance. And when the tenth element looked to the west, it saw darkness and chaos and coldness. It saw steam gathering on the upper sphere and white lines crossing the dark, chasing the darkness away._   
_And it knew, it was good._   
_So it let it be. It called the dark part West, and the light part East._   
_The East part was peaceful, bring and warm with fire burning up above the upper sphere._   
_The West part was cold, dark and dangerous, with white shinings falling from the steam gathered._   
_It fell to the ground, covering the black grounds in white, cold powder. And when the last element saw that, it called the white powder Snow._   
_And when another stroke crossed the upper sphere and hit the ground, the element named it Lightning. And for the lightning was bright, the contrary of darkness was called Light._   
_It looked up and focused on the fire ball above. "This shall be called Sun, thus Sun shall be fire." And when it looked down, it saw oceans and seas and lakes and river and it decided they would be filled with Water._   
_And then it saw snow being uplifted and carried high above the upper sphere where it rested, equal to the Sun. And it decided, the upper sphere snow shall be called Stars, and the force carrying it there, for the last element liked that act of creation, decided to call it Wind. And there it was, looking around, when it spotted a mite; something neither wet nor dry,something dark but pleasant. And when it took it from the ground and the rays of Sun touched it a green leaf grew. "I shall call it Soil," it thought, lying the dust back on the ground, "it shall make this place beautiful."_   
_And seeing how the darkness and light fought with each other, it decided to make them equal. Darkness became Night, light was turned into Day. But seeing how Day was bright because of the Sun, it realized the night was dark because of the lack of such. And when it thought of a solution, it saw chaos appearing next to the Sun, stealing some of its light, and then it disappeared; only to reappeare again, stealing light from the stars. And at last it appeared in the West and stole coldness from the Snow. And when the Lightning stroke, it stole its', too._   
_For before any reaction could be given, a shining circle was hung on the upper sphere, bringing light to the darkness._   
_Seeing that the last element named it Moon. And what was to take control over life, the element figured, and would quell the chaos, became known as Time._   
_But the element was disturbed. It thought of a spirit, second element, and it decided it was dangerous. For there was no means to control it. And this is how the second elemnt became coursed, to be forever one, forever the same. And it became known as a seperate being._

Upon flipping the page, Baekhyun’s eyes landed on primitive drawings of the symbol from his dream. He started flipping the pages; there were many more. One that resembled a unicorn, a tornado, a snowflake, some kind of a flying animal, a star. He was not sure what the rest was supposed to be, but he counted twelve of them. A few of which he spotted on Jongdae’s drawings.

“What are you?” he mumbled to himself, as he turned the page and kept on reading.

⚚⚚⚚

When Jongdae woke up in the morning, he was once again accompanied by a headache. Grabbing a few pain killers and a glass of water that stood on a nightstand, he took them, and got up. His eyes landed on a few drawings scattered on the floor. He grabbed one, the oldest ones, his first drawing. There was a frozen man, a form trapped in ice. He stood in the middle of a frozen ocean, with blizzard ranging around him.

Jongdae frowned, as a sudden shiver ran down his spine.

“Dae! Dear, have you woken up?” he heard his mother’s voice call him from the outside. He quickly pushed the drawings under his bed, and stood up.

“Yes, mom! I’ll be down any minute!”

Having said that, he quickly dressed himself and throwing a few books into his backpack, he left the room and ran down to the kitchen.

“Is Baekhyun ready?” he asked, quickly grabbing a cup standing on a counter. A grimace adorned his face as he realized it was someone else’s coffee, not his tea.

“I’m here,” the older yawn, entering the room as well.

“You look terrible,” Jongdae pointed, and Baekhyun only rolled his eyes, “how long did you stay up?”

“Four.”

Jongdae chocked on his tea, “you stayed up until four reading that stupid book?”

Baekhyun shrugged, grabbing a banana and a bottle of water from the fridge, and put it in his bag, “you ready?” he asked only, heading for the door.

“What book was he reading?” Jongdae’s mum asked him, observing the older boy’s back.

“Something about Mesopotamian’s myths,” the boy rolled his eyes, “I’ll be back late, I gotta stay in a library to write a paper today,” he smiled, giving his mother a kiss on a cheek.

“I know you have detention, Dae.”

“Ugh, at least I tried,” he shrugged, and left the house.

“Be back for dinner!” she shouted after the two, but was not sure whether they heard.

She could only hope.

⚚⚚⚚

The day was going incredibly slow for Jongdae, and he found it hard to focus. Somewhere, at the back of his mind, was a constant thought regarding his conversation with Baekhyun the night before, and the images of the drawings were flashing in his mind.

He let out a small growl, rubbing his temples.

“You alright?” Baekhyun asked, sitting next to him.

“I just wanna be done with this day, that’s all,” he mumbled, looking outside the window. Dark clouds started gathering on the sky, and loud thunders could be heard in the distance.

“Stop being so moody, the weather is listening to you, again,” Baekhyun warned.

“As if that was possible,” he chuckled lowly, resting his head in his hands on a table.

Suddenly, the temperature in the room dropped, and the door slammed open.

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun whisper, nudging his friend. The boy looked up, and took a sharp breath in.

“Oh,” left his lips, and he saw his breath turn into a steam.

There, through the door came a man with black eyes, in a shape resembling an almond, jet black hair, a few bangs of which covered the eyes, and a fair complexion. His lips were plump, a color of light raspberry.

“Morning,” the man spoke, standing behind the desk, “I am here today to substitute for your teacher.”

“What happened to Mrs. Lee?” someone shouted.

“That should be none of your concern, open your books on the latest topic you have discussed,” he ordered, and some people swallowed loudly.

⚚⚚⚚

“Baekhyun.”

The boy heard his name being called after the class. He looked up, and saw the new teach looking straight at him. He rose from his seat, and neared the man.

“Yes?”

“I would like to see you in my office along with Jongdae after your classes are over.”

The boy raised an eyesbrow, “excuse me? Why would that be?”

“Due to some issues I would like to discuss. Make sure to be on time, I really do not like waiting,” he spoke, and turning around, left the room.

“Sir!” Baekhyun yelled after him. When the man therw him one last glance, he spoke again, “Jongdae has detention today.”

“I know. I’ve already talked to the teacher. He will spend it in my office. Be on time!”

⚚⚚⚚

“What happened?” Jongdae asked, as Baekhyun joined him in the hallway.

“He wants us to come to his office right after classes.”

“What the hell? But I hav – “

“Not anymore,” Baekhyun whispered, as they walked outside. “Be careful.”

“Hmm?” Jongdae looked at him cofused, “alright?”

“He kept staring at you the whole class,” Baekhyun smirked, winking at his friend. Jongdae only gasped, and rolled his eyes.

“Well, he is not that bad. Speaking off, isn’t he too young to be a teacher? How old can he be?”

Baekhyun shrugged, “I’ve been thinking the same.”

⚚⚚⚚

“Is everything ready?” Chanyeol asked, sitting on a desk, playing with a flame in his hand.

“I believe so. Yixing and Sehun were supposed to take care of everything. We just need to get them there.”

“Have you seen them, hyung?”

“I have. They shall be here shortly.”

There was silence between the two for some time, before Chanyeol spoke again.

“Minseok,” he mumbled, “what if they don’t recognize us?”

“Oh, Chanyeol. They certainly will not.”

The younger let out a disappointed sigh, “it’s been centuries, hyung. Over a millennium!” the older stayed silent, “do you think we made a mistake? Becoming humans?”

“I think we made a mistake that we fell as low as humans. We lost everything, just to gain little,” Minseok replied, and his eyes shone, “but don’t worry, Chanyeol. We’ll get it all back. We’ll get them back; we’ll get our home back. I will erase every possible memory and mention of the greek gods, I swear it. Even if I have to change history, I will. They’ll pay for what they’ve done.”

“I’ve been often wondering what would happen if Jongdae didn’t drink that last glass of wine,” the fire boy chuckled, and for a moment, Minseok’s features seemed to soften, as if he remembered something really nice. But then, he was back to his usual self.

“_Curiosity killed the cat_,” he whispered, and they both laughed.

“Oh, the irony! Funny, how no one but us will ever know the origins of this phrase.”

“That’s true.”

“There’s so many stories to be told.”

“And many more to be forgotten,” Minseok’s tone suddenly changed, “do not do it to yourself, Chanyeol. Bringing the past back will do you no good. It will to do good to any of us.”

Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door.

“Come in!” Minseok shouted, and a moment later two figures entered the room.

Jongdae and Baekhyun looked slightly confused when their eyes landed on the stranger in the room. “I’m glad to –“

“Can you stop?!” Jongdae interrupted the man, but his eyes were focused on the person he did not know. The stranger raised his eyebrows, and looked at him confused.

“What?”

“Stop staring at my friend like he was your prey,” he growled, standing slightly in front of Baekhyun, who only narrowed his eyes at the stranger.

“Chanyeol,” Minseok spoke, and when the said boy turned to look at the oldest, his shirt slightly slipped down, uncovering his neck.

Jongdae inhaled loudly, upon spotting a light mark on the other’s skin. He heard Baekhyun gasp, and he knew he saw the same thing. They both gulped, as the men in front of them looked their way.

And then, before anyone could ask, or say anything, black smoke appeared in the room and swallowed Baekhyun. Jongdae was about to yell, when it appeared again, and he felt himself being swallowed as well.

⚚⚚⚚

“_JONGIN!_” Minseok yelled at the top of his lungs, “I swear, he is so dead!”

“Hyung,” Chanyeol mumbled, looking around. The whole room was frozen.

Suddenly, the black smoke appeared again, and out of it came a tall man, with sun kissed skin, plain black hair, and black eyes. He was panting, as if being in a hurry.

“You!” The oldest screamed, throwing himself on a male. But the newcomer only turned into a smoke, just to reappear on the other side of the room.

“Stop it!” he exclaimed, “we have no time!”

“Where are they?!” Chanyeol asked, looking the boy in front of him up and down.

“With Yixing and Sehun,” Jongin replied, “I’ll take you there, but you have to listen to me! The gods! They sent_ Eurynomos*_ down to Earth!”

“What?” Minseok whispered, looking at Chanyeol terrified.

“They’re not wasting time,” the younger pointed.

“How do you know that?”

“Rumor travels fast.”

“They will not stop with only this one,” Minseok mumbled, “and we still don’t know where Junmyeon and Kyungsoo are. They might be in great danger.”

“Kyungsoo?” Jongin whispered, “is he… is he here as well?”

Chanyeol’s gaze softened as he looked at his old friend, “we don’t know, Jongin. But we’ll find him,’ he placed a hand on the younger’s shoulder, smiling. Jongin nodded, and grabbing Minseok’s wrist, his darkness swallowed all of them.

⚚⚚⚚

Jongdae groaned upon being violently thrown onto a concrete. He felt a hand on his shoulder and when he looked up, he saw Baekhyun’s concerned and frightened expression.

“What is going on?” he asked, realizing they were no longer in the teacher’s office.

“I don’t know,” Bakehyun whispered, helping Jongdae up with shaking hands.

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know, Jongdae,” Baekhyun replied, feeling rising annoyance with his friend.

“Let’s get out of here,” the younger suggested, but then they heard something.

Steps.

They looked at each other terrified, their hearts beating faster.

They were standing in a circle of light, but anything outside was covered in thick darkness.

“This is so good, hyung, you should try!” an exicted voice reach their ears.

“No, Sehun, thank you,” another replied.

“Wow, I swear, this might be the best thing out of all the humans invented!”

“Sehun, this is just a –,” the voice suddenly stopped, and so did the steps, “what are you doing here?” it asked, and the whole room filled with light.

What Baekhyun and Jongdae did not expect, was to see two men, both around their age, casually standing in the middle of some old, underground parking lot. One of them was rather tall, his face long, hair blond, and his eyes seemed to be dark grey. There was a massive smile on his lips, at first, as he was munching on a bar of chocolate, but it changed right away, when his eyes landed on the two. The other boy was slightly shorter, his eyes green as a morning grass in spring. He had a very calming aura to himself, and it somehow calmed to two students down.

Seddenly, a massive cloud of smoke appeared next to them, and three people emerged from it. Jongdae quickly put a hand to his lips, preventing a scream from coming out. Baekhyun tightly gripped his friend’s wrist, pushing him away from the three.

Jongdae frowned, recognizing two of the men that stood in front of him as the substitute teacher and a weird man from his office. His eyes grew, and he could not hold the next words that escaped his lips.

“What the fuck?!” he yelled, and everyone looked at him.

* * *

* * *


	4. III

III

Logic.

From the Ancient Greek _logike_. Originally meaning _the word_, transformed to mean _thought_ or _reason_; is generally held to consist of the systematic study of the form of arguments. A valid argument is one where there is a specific relation of logical support between the assumptions of the argument and its conclusion.

Logic. Something that describes things valid; things that _are_. Everything is built on logic. The laws of physic, the laws of humans, the laws of nature, the ones ruling over the Universe and the ones ruling under waters of oceans.

The world and society exist because of logically outlined rules.

Baekhyun’s world exists because of logic. There is nothing outside, lack of logic creates chaos, and chaos destroys everything it touches.

Lack of logic equals lack of everything and anything that prospers.

If there was no logic, there would be no Baekhyun.

_Cogito ergo sum_. Logic is thought; a means of creation. I think, therefore I _am_.

A thought means asking, questioning, demanding, figuring, finding, wondering, and finally achieving. A thought is a beginning of a process of _being_.

It is logical that the sun rises on the East and it sets on the West, due to the rotation of the Earth. It is logical that water is liquid, due to its chemical construction. It is logical that leaves move, due to the force of wind.

The world as we know it works, because of the logical laws ruling over it.

It is logical, that everything in the world is connected, and that people are also included, being part of the circle of life.

Logic.

A thought creates everything.

A thought explains everything.

Without thoughts there was no logic. Without logic there was no Baekhyun.

Because everything Baekhyun knew was logical thinking.

One thing emerging from another. A long chain of networks.

That is why it was so hard for Baekhyun to find an explanation for what was happening.

What had just happened to him, to them, was plainly illogical. People do not just disappear and reappear somewhere else.

Laws of physics forbade such acts. Laws of logic forbade such acts.

He heard and felt his heart bang against his chest, blood rushing crazily in his veins, fueled by adrenaline. His senses were on high alert, his eyes following every movement in the darkness around him, carefully checking all the five figures in front of him; his muscles were flexed, ready to either run or attack; his hearing sharp, catching every sound around, from Jongade’s breathing to dust falling on the ground.

It was terribly silent.

But these were only seconds, a moment shorter than a breath, between an appearance of a black cloud and his friend’s yell somehow making everything more normal.

“What the fuck?!” Jongdae yelled, his voice slightly high pitched, his muscles tensed and eyes wide, and Baekhyun knew that the younger was doing his best to stay calm.

_Rule number one of survival_: never let the enemy sense your fear.

Upon noticing that the strangers focused on Jongdae, Baekhyun quickly looked around, trying to spot an exit, or any sort of escape route. There it was, somewhere far, on the wall behind them, there seemed to be a source of light, as if a massive window or a garage door left ajar. It was their chance.

Baekhyun tightened his grip on the younger’s wrist, and when their eyes met, he knew that Jongdae understood. After all, they grew to understand each other without words.

They counted to three in their heads, and suddenly, as if on cue, started running towards the opposite wall, Jongdae only inches behind Baekhyun, following the other.

_Rule number two of survival: _know your opponent.

They almost made it. What they needed was a few more meters. However, just when a weird realization settled in them, that they could not hear any footsteps behind them, that they were not followed, a black smoke appeared in front of them, something grabbed their hands, and the next thing they knew they were lying on the floor, in the circle of light, _again_.

“There is no point trying to escape,” they heard a voice.

“This is not happening,” Baekhyun mumbled to himself, taking a deep breath in, trying to calm his beating heart.

Baekhyun was the one to always follow logic, and what was happening around him was not logical in any degree. But his heart gave up to instincts. And his instincts were screaming at him to get away.

He got up, and pulled Jongdae harshly up with him. The younger groaned, and Baekhyun sent him a look.

“Don’t look at me like that, I’ve just hit the fucking concrete and you’re shoving me around like a bag of groceries,” he mumbled, making a face at his friend, as if they were not in a life-threatening situation.

Someone chuckled lowly and quietly.

“One day you will get yourself in a really crappy situation and I will not be there to save your sorry ass,” Baekhyun whispered to the younger, tightening his grip on the other’s shoulder.

Another chuckle.

“Then let’s hope it’s gonna be today, so I don’t have to listen to you anymore.”

“Calm down,” another voice spoke, “no one is dying today –“

“I WAS NOT TALKING TO YOU!” Both of them yelled, and when the five strangers looked at each other in confusion, Baekhyun and Jongdae gave each other one look and started running again.

Just to be caught in the same place and brought back to the exact same spot a moment later.

“What the fuck?!” Jongdae groaned, grabbing his shoulder, as he fell on it for the third time, and it started hurting.

“Stop running, so it’ll stop hurting,” a familiar this time voice reached their ears, and when Jongdae looked up, he was met with a cold gaze of the substitute teacher.

“Thanks for the advice, asshole,” he murmured, and someone chuckled again, “since when is the school hiring pschopaths?”

“Jongdae, shut up!” the teacher and Baekhyun said at the same time, and only gave each other weird looks.

“Even after millennia, he’s still annoying,” a boy who brought them there mumbled, and Jongdae gasped, offended.

“Excuse you! What the hell is that supposed to mean?! And who the hell are you even to judge me like that?!”

Baekhyun placed a hand on Jongdae’s injured shoulder and squeezed it, making the boy whine, “we have more urgent issues than your hurt pride, so for Pete’s sake, shut the fuck up, Jongdae,” he spoke in a stoic voice, tightening his grip on the shoulder even more.

The younger only nodded, and a loud sigh of relief escaped his lips as Baekhyun let go of him.

“Who are you?” the older proceeded with talking, looking around at everyone gathered.

“Why would you ask questions to which you already know the answer, Baekhyun?” one of them asked, and his voice was calm and soft.

“How do you know my name?”

The boy chuckled, “I believe this is a valid question, indeed,” he smiled widely, and Baekhyun frowned.

_Rule number three of survival_: do not trust anyone.

“Then answer it, for the love of all the gods,” Jongdae mumbled, rolling his eyes. He was not the most patient person on the planet.

“Some things definitely never change,” someone made a remark, and in the corner of the eye, Jongdae spotted the tall boy from the office smirking.

However, instead of answering Baekhyun with words, the boy speaking to him only straightened his left arm and pulled his sweater above the wrist.

There, just below the veins, was a mark resembling a unicorn, only a few shades darker than the boy’s skin color.

Right after, a taller boy standing to the right did the same thing. On his wrist was a mark in shape of a cyclone, or a tornado.

The two men from the office also straightened their arms, uncovering two marks. One that looked like a phoenix, the other resembling a snowflake.

Only one of them has not done that, but it was unnecessary. Beakhyun already knew everything.

He quickly grabbed Jongdae’s hand, and turned around pulling the younger after him.

“We’re leaving,” he said calmly, however his steps were rather rushed.

“Just like that?” Jongdae asked confused, a vision of a hard landing suddenly sending shivers down his spine, “what happened?”

“They’re just a bunch of fools,” the older said, and when this time a cloud of black smoke appeared in front of them, Baekhyun was prepared.

He quickly put his hands over the boy’s shoulders and kicked him in the stomach, making him land of the floor with a groan.

“You surprised us once, fooled us twice, but three times is enough,” he spoke, and moved forward.

Jongdae, however, stood in a place, observing the boy on the floor.

“Jongdae!”

“Fools do not break the laws of logic, Baek,” Jongdae whispered, frowning, deep in thought.

“We can discuss it later, move.”

“He disappeared and reappeared. He did what is not to be done, Baekhyun,” he kept on mumbling.

“I swear, Jongdae, you love having your ass beaten, don’t you?” Baekhyun groaned, watching the other four figures walking their way.

“You have no idea how much,” someone chuckled once again, and both Baekhyun and Jongdae felt a sense of annoyance gather in them upon hearing the sound, _again_.

“How come you are just going to walk away from it?” Jongdae looked up at his friend, gaze focused and voice serious, “this is something that should not be happening.”

“I do like my life, Jongdae, and I would like to stay alive, that is why I am planning on rethinking everything later,” he groaned under his breath, hissing quietly at the younger.

Jongdae got up, and looked at the four other people, who were now standing only a few meters away. The one on the floor finally gathered himself, and glared at Baekhyun, “this was unnecessary,” he murmured.

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow, “in my opinion, it was beyond necessary.”

“What is this about?” Jongdae asked, looking the substitute teacher in the eyes, “what kind of tricks are those?”

“This,” he mentioned at everyone around, “is about you and your friend,” he explained, and Jongdae’s heart started banging against his chest again, “and these are no tricks. This is what we do,” the boy smirked, and Jongdae instantly felt a wave of coldness wash over his legs, and they suddenly felt really heavy. When he looked down, he realized he was stuck in a pile of ice, keeping him grounded.

He took a loud breath in, and started moving and kicking, wanting to set himself free. Or at least he tried, because the only result was him almost falling to the ground. But he was caught in the last moment, and when he raised his eyes he was looking in two dark orbs of the one who put him in that state.

His heart banged against his chest, and the place where their skin was touching burned him. He swallowed, not being able to advert his gaze.

He was falling.

The ice around his legs started melting, and the moment he felt lighter he pushed away from the stranger and stumbled back.

“Do not dare to touch me,” he mumbled, his eyes fixed on the other.

He then felt his friend’s grip on his elbow, and all he needed was one look at the older to read him. _Fear, confusion, desperation_. What was happening around them was against anything this world believed in. It was against anything they believed in. It was against them. It was against Baekhyun and his faith in logic.

“We need to get out,” he whispered desperately, looking Jongdae in the eyes.

The younger nodded, and grabbing Baekhyun’s hand he simply turned around.

But they could not move, as they were suddenly watching their expressions reflected in flames encircling them. They were trapped.

“Baekhyun, what the fuck?” Jongdae mumbled, tightening a grip on his friend’s hand in fear.

He was not afraid; he was terrified.

“I don’t know, Jongdae. But I really don’t like it,” the other answered, quickly looking around at five figures gathered around them.

“We’ve already told you,” the tall man from the office said, “there is no point trying to escape. We’ll always catch you.”

“What kind of a sick game is this?!” Jongdae spat, “what do you from us?!”

“We want nothing_ from_ you,” the boy in front of Jongdae spoke, “we want _you_.”

“That just sounded super creepy, hyung,” someone sighed.

“Excuse me, Sehun,” the voice said, looking at a tall boy with blond hair and a chocolate in his hand, “would you care to explain it to them better?”

Jongdae and Baekhyun looked at each other beyond confused. Maybe these people truly were a bunch of fools.

“You two are in great danger,” the boy, Sehun, spoke, looking at them and taking a bite of his candy, “you are being hunted.”

The boys swallowed, but then Jongdae quickly frowned, and wrinkled his nose, “what a stupid joke,” he mumbled, running a hand though his hair, “I swear if this is Soo’s revenge, I’m gonna find him and break his nose,” he kept on mumbling, and Baekhyun suddenly straightened his back, giving Jongdae _the look_.

“Care to explain what the hell have you done to Kyungsoo this time?” Baekhyun asked, his voice suddenly changing from terrified to a _‘I should have known it was you’_ one.

“Kyungsoo?” one of the men in front of them gasped, but they did not care to pay attention.

“Nothing, alright!” Jongdae suddenly exclaimed really loudly, throwing his hands up, “it’s been months since the last time I ran into him!”

“And what exactly happened all these _months_ ago?”

Jongdae rolled his eyes, “I may or may not have made fun of his height,” he mumbled.

“And?” Baekhyun continued, knowing his friend too well.

“And I may or may not have _accidentally_ taken his clothes after our encounter on the swimming pool.”

Baekhyun’s eye twitched, “why are you so stupid,” he whispered, “why am I even friends with you.”

Someone chuckled again.

“Well, excuse me, but neither making fun of his height nor taking his clothes requires such an overreacted response!” Jongdae yelled, gesturing towards the men around them.

“How many times do I need to remind you that you do not make fun of Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun yelled back, seriously angry with the younger, “this is the guy who broke your arm when we were kids!”

“Exactly!” Jongdae whined, “he started it,” he pouted, caressing his shoulder.

“I have no idea what happened to Jongdae, but you can spot from afar who’s blood is running in Baekhyun’s veins,” a quiet whisper reached their ears over the flames, and they both frowned.

“We’ll finish the discussion later,” Baekhyun spat, rolling his eyes at the younger, “and you deserved that broken arm anyway.”

“Wow!” Jongdae gasped, “thank you very fucking much!”

“You’ve always been terribly annoying, you know.”

“Next time why don’t you just push me under a train or something, problem solved,” he mumbled.

“Don’t forget, Jongdae, that cats have nine lives,” someone, Sehun, threw at him, laughing quietly.

Jongade greeted his teeth. He has had enough.

He took a few steps back, to the back edge of the circle of fire, and taking a few quick steps he jumped over the flames and landed straight on the tall boy. Everyone gasped, surprised, as Jongdae brought the taller to the ground, and sitting on his chest, blocked his arms from moving.

“Who the fuck are you?” he greeted, looking the boy in the eyes, “all of you!” he yelled, looking up at the others.

“We are what you read about, what you dream about,” one of them said, “we are missing parts of you.”

Jongdae grabbed the boy underneath him tightly by the collar, and shook him, making the other hit the floor a few times.

“Can I please kick his ass, now?” Sehun mumbled, biting on his lower lip.

“Jongdae, stop it!” Baekhyun yelled, and the next thing he knew, someone grabbed him, pulled his up and shoved against the wall.

“For the love of all the creation, both of you shut up this instant and listen, or none of you is going back home anytime soon,” the substitute teacher growled, looking Jongdae in the eyes, and the younger swallowed.

“Then start fucking talking,” he spat, hiding his fear in his pocket, “I have better things to do than wasting my time being kidnapped by a bunch of fucking lunatics!”

“Cut down on the swearing, or next Christmas I’m buying you a dictionary,” Baekhyun sighed, and Jongdae felt like throwing a tantrum. _How could Baekhyun, out of all the people, be making such remarks in such a situation?!_

“I am asking once again, who are you?” Jongdae repeated his question, looking back at the boy in front of him.

“My name is Yixing,” one of the people spoke, and Jongdae’s eyes slowly moved to the source of a calm voice, “this is Sehun,” he gestured towards a tall boy who moments ago was lying on the ground underneath Jongdae, “the one who brought you here is Jongin, the tall one is Chanyeol, and this is…,” he stopped, looking at a boy in front of Jongdae with a rather disappointed expression, “this is Minseok.”

“Seems like you already know our names, so there’s no point in introduction,” Jongdae pointed, “and would you mind letting me down? Have you heard about something called personal space, or does such a vocabulary do not concern psychopaths?”

“Just let him go and he’ll be less annoying,” Baekhyun mumbled.

“No, he won’t,” Minseok said, but let Jongdae go anyway.

The fire around Baekhyun went down, and he quickly jogged towards Jongdae.

“Since we all know the names,” Baekhyun started, “let’s move on. Why are we here?”

“As was mentioned before, you’re being hunted down this very moment. We want to warn you, help you and –,“ Minseok started, but then went silent.

“And?” Baekhyun asked, but Jongdae interrupted him.

“Question number one: why would we be hunted? Question number two: by whom would we be hunted? And finally question number three worth one hundred points: how the hell would _you_ know about it?”

The boys looked at each other, and then Chanyeol spoke, “starting from the end, well, we kind of might be the reason why you are in danger now,” he said, and Jongdae only blew a raspberry.

“This is only getting better,” he mumbled, and the Chanyeol quickly continued.

“But it’s not like we’ve done it on purpose! It’s… ugh,” he groaned, running a hand through his hair, “it’s so hard to explain since you don’t know anything!”

“Then why don’t you explain this ‘_anything_’!” Baekhyun yelled, but quickly gained his composure again.

“Because you won’t believe us. It’s really hard,” he confessed, and Jongdae only rolled his eyes.

“Dude, no matter what you say right now, we won’t believe you anyway. You kidnapped us, you used some sorry ass sorcery to get us here, you are doing voodoo shit with fire and ice, I mean, you are fucking insane,” he said, “the moment I am out of here, I am suing all of you.”

“No, you are not,” Minseok sighed, “after what we tell you, if you tell it to anyone else, you will be the one put in a hospital for mentally ill. So I’d be careful with words, if I were you.”

“Thankfully, you’re not.”

“I would just like to repeat one more question,” Baekhyun stated, “by who would we be hunted, exactly?”

The men looked at each other, and then Minseok spoke, “by the gods.”

There was a deafening silence around them, as if no one even dared to breath.

Baekhyun and Jongdae only stood next to each other, both equally surprised and muddle-headed.

They looked at each other, stunned by the situation, and slowly started blinking.

“We run?” Jongdae only asked.

“I don’t even think we need to run.”

“They are buttshit crazy, what if they bite?”

“Just don’t make any rapid moves, and everything will be fine.”

“The Greek gods want you dead,” Chanyeol said, nearing them.

“You, mister, don’t get any closers, I warn you,” Jongdae said, pulling an arm in front of him.

“And what would you even do, you have to left legs,” Jongin mumbled, and Jongdae’s eye witched.

“Open your mouth once again, and I will break your neck,” he spat, having enough of the stranger’s remarks about him.

“You know these signs, don’t you?” Yixing asked, and his voice once again seemed to calm everyone, “tell me, do you know them?”

Jongdae and Baekhyun looked at the boy’s arm, and then at each other.

“Yes,” Baekhyun nodded, and Jongdae raised an eyebrow.

“You do?”

“Don’t you, Jongdae?” Yixing asked him personally, tilting his head to the side, as if not believing him.

“Well, I may or may not have seen them, but I do not know what would the supposedly mean,” he shrugged.

“Remember, what you found me in the library at night?” Baekhyun asked, his eyes fixed on the mark, “after you left, I found what I was looking for. These marks,” he nodded in the direction of the sign, “they represent the beginning,” he explained.

The five boys nodded at his words, but Jongdae only raised an eyebrow, “eh?” he gasped, not even knowing how to articulate his confusion, “English?*”

“The Mayans believed that the world was created by ten elements. Chaos, time, ice, lightning, light, fire, water, wind, earth, and harmony. First was time and nothingness, which was chaos, and for nothingness is cold, that is the third element, Then you have lightning and light emerging right after, and for with lightning came light, there is the distinction between dark and bright, light is also warmth, and then you water filling the lands, appearance of wind, and Earth, then came the sun that was fire and later came the creation of the moon; separation of day and night, heavens from grounds –“

“So basically you read the Genesis?” Jongdae asked, frowning, “whoever wrote the book you were reading, got it from the Bible,” the younger pointed.

Baekhyun looked at him, and shrugged, “or the Bible got it from the Mayans,” he said, and Jongdae wrinkled his nose.

“Anyway,” the other continued, “each of the elements in creation was represented by a sign. A mark, just like these ones,” he gestured at the men’s arms, “like the ones on your paintings.”

“That is a nice story, but are we getting anywhere with this?”

“Chaos,” Baekhyun repeated, and looked at Jongin, “ice,” he mumbled and looked at Minseok, “fire,” he glanced at Chanyeol.

Suddenly, Jongdae burst out laughing, a long and obnoxious laugh carrying itself around the empty hall, “oh, my,” he mumbled finally, “you mean… they think they are the whatever creation we are talking about?” he asked, looking at the boys in front of them, “or is this some kind of a illuminati shit going on here?”

Baekhyun shook his head, and nodded at Jongdae, “this is the explanation of the marks. I am not saying anything.”

“But this is exactly what they mean,” Minseok spoke.

“So basically you claim to be some ancient, supernatural powers?” Jongdae reapted his question, this time dressed in different words.

“We don’t claim anything,” the man spoke again, “this is the truth.”

“And, excuse me, what do we have to do with your freak show?”

“You are the missing pieces. You just don’t remember.”

“Should be, like, terrified for my life, or can I start laughing?” Jongdae asked, directing the question to Baekhyun, who looked, oh, so conflicted, Jongdae felt sorry for his friend.

“You should believe us,” Chanyeol said, desperately.

“You are saying you are another race of super gods. Dude, these days, it’s called mental illness,” Jongdae groaned.

“Gods?!” Minseok hissed, “Oh, no. We are more than that. So much more. We are older than them, older than the Greek gods, older than the Egyptian ones; we are older than life and death,” he spat, and Jongdae only raised an eyebrow at him.

“Nothing can be older than life, this is logically incorrect,” Baekhyun chimed in.

“Yet, something had to be the _beginning_ of all this, right?”

“And that was life. Life is beginning.”

“Why do I even bother with you?” he mumbled, “Chanyeol!”

“For there to be life, there has to be a source of it, right Baekhyun?” the tall boy spoke, and his voice no longer sounded playful like before, “you speak of logic, son of Athena, so tell me, Byun Baekhyun, what life requires?” he asked, nearing the silver haired boy.

There was a moment of silence, in which the young student only looked the stranger in the eyes, wondering what he was talking about when he mentioned Athena, but decided it was probably nothing but some reference he did not understand.

“Energy,” he whispered.

“And what gives energy?” the boy smiled.

“Li – Light,” he mumbled, and as he started feeling really uncomfortable under everyone’s careful gaze, the lights around them started flickering.

Jongdae frowned, while looking around, and then advenrted his eyes back to his friend.

“Do you know what is the purope of light, Baekhyun?” Chanyeol asked softly, smiling at the smaller boy.

“Chasing away the darkness,” upon mumbling the answer, he started frantically looking from one of the newcomers to the other. “Impossible,” he whispered and one of the light bulbs exploded, startling everyone.

“What is impossible?! What the hell are you even talking about?!” Jongdae shouted, irritated by ridiculousness of the situation. This was all a joke, and a joke Jongdae did not find funny at all, “come one, Baekhyun. This is it,” he muttered, grabbing his friend by the arm and a sparkle appeared when they touched, “what the. -,” Jongdae started but was interrupted.

“Please,” Minseok blew a raspberry, “just don’t tell me you’ve got your attitude after your sorry ass father,” he chuckled, and something clicked in Jongdae’s brain. He clenched his fists and a loud bang could be heard in a distance. The five men frowned, and then gasps and chuckes left their lips, as they saw Jongdae quickly turned in Minseok’s direction and punch him square on the face.

Minseok’s eyes widened upon the younger’s actions, a stinging pain pulsating in his reddening check. He gasped and quickly looked up at the other, “how dare you?!” he yelled angrily, and the temperature around them dropped. He was standing face to face with Jongdae, and the younger’s expression was like of a marble statue.

“Don’t you ever,” Jongdae said in a low voice, and his eyes darkened, “dare to speak about my father, you freak.”

And he pulled Baekhyun after him, passing all of them and going into the direction of light.

* * *

* * *


	5. IV

IV

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun mumbled, following the younger from a few feet behind. It was raining heavily, and they were soaked to their bones, nearly running through the city, trying to get home. There a storm accompanying the spectacle of rain, each clash in the sky like a crescendo of Jongdae’s steps, each lightning a reflection of the boy’s pace. Or so Baekhyun thought. He hated storms and it appeared that they were always accompanying Jongdae, wherever he would go. “Jondgae, would you like to talk about it?” the boy asked quietly, and as his friend’s fists tightened and his muscles visibly tensed a deafening in volume bang ranged in the sky. The elder swallowed, nodding to himself, understanding the answer. He looked back, towards the direction that they were running away from, and as he observed the sky being ready to crumble down to earth and crush everything and everyone on its face, he could not stop himself from thinking about what they had experienced in that garage.

The laws of logic had been broken and Baekhyun felt conflicted. He did not understand, anymore, and yet, he still existed. He frowned, looking ahead of him at the enlarging distance between Jongdae and himself. The wind around them was ranging, as if trying to make them turn around and push them back towards that place; leaves on the ground were spinning in tornados above the pavement, the ones on the trees were barely holding on, his own clothes were being muffled and harassed by the cold force, and yet, it seemed as if none of it affected Jongdae. The younger moved forward, quickly and steadily, untouched by the forces of nature. Baekhyun looked around, anxious, worried and scared. Suddenly, in the accompaniment of the symphony that was the raging storm, a sickening feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. He looked around once more, hurriedly, as shivers ran down his whole body. His guts twisted as he felt _watched_. As there wasn’t anything in particular that he could spot, being left with nothing more than a blood freezing feeling, he picked up his pace and rushed after his friend.

At night, Baekhyun sneaked into the library again, wanting to search the book had been reading before. Yet, to his surprise, there was an empty spot in the place where he had placed it. It was nowhere to be found. He frowned, but upon looking at the clock, which stroke 2am, he decided against questioning everyone in the household. Instead, he picked up a few other books, choosing to go a longer way, as long as it leads him to the destination. And the destination was a place with answers. So, he sat down in his armchair and started studying the texts, wishing he could ask Jongdae for help. But he knew that the younger lacked the patience with books.

“Baekhyun?” he heard his father’s voice, and when he looked up, there was a figure in the doorframe, “why are you up so late?”

“Oh,” he gasped, and smiled, “just doing some research for school,” he lied, mentioning at the books. His father rose an eyebrow.

“At two in the morning?” he asked, suspicious.

“I cannot sleep, because of the storm,” Baekhyun mumbled, looking back down at the text.

The storm that caught Jongdae and him earlier that day was still ranging on.

“And what are you, if I may ask, researching this time?” the man asked, walking up to his son and looking curiously at the pile of books.

“Oh, just some background check on Mesopotamian myths,” the boy explained, and then looked up at his father, who’s face seemed to have been painted with disappointment, “anyway, do you happen to know what happened to that big volume on the Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East? It doesn’t seem to be where it should be.”

“I haven’t used that book in twenty two years, Baekhyun. You guys must have replaced it,” he just declared, turning around and leaving for the door. He stopped at the exit and looked back at his son, “I don’t want you staying up this late, Baekhyun. You’d better leave these books and go to sleep,” he ordered and left. The boy only sighed, looking back at the old pages once again.

Jongdae woke up covered in sweat, for the fifth time that night. He looked around hastily, and upon realizing he was still, in fact, in his room, he took a moment to calm his breath and nerves down. The images of his nightmares started fading, leaving his head empty and his heart in fear. He swallowed hard and through his legs off the bed. The clockeshowed six in the morning. The boy sighed and left the bed, not even considering going back to sleep. He didn’t want to. As the reminisce of last days started coming back to him, from being kidnapped, to being bullied, to running away, Jongdae decided, for the sake of his sanity, that is was all part of his nightmares. It was just a nightmare.

As he was walking down the corridor to the kitchen, he passed the library, where he spotted Baekhyun napping in an armchair, an open book on his laps. He smiled to himself, shaking his head at the elder, and walked down the stairs. He was about to enter the kitchen, when he heard his mother’s voice.

“We should have told them,” he mumbled, “we should have just told them years ago, Siwon.”

“Don’t me stupid, Luna,” the man barked, “how would we even go about telling them their half gods!” he hissed, and Jongdae’s head spanned. He quickly leant against the wall, losing balance.

“I don’t know, Siwon, but it’s better than them sneaking around like this!” his mother raised her voice, “we’ve been lucky enough that nothing major has happened since that last time, and we both know it can happen again any time soon! They need to know who they are!”

“They’re our sons! Our sons!” his mother’s husband yelled. Jongdae heard a chair being dragged against the floor, then another, a few steps being taken, and then came a soft whisper, “but they are also sons of Zeus and Athena, Siwon. We cannot pretend it’s not true. And we need to make sure that they can protect themselves, darling. There is only so much we can do for them…”

“Baekhyun was researching the Mesopotamian myths, Luna… he found the story about the twelve elements… I don’t want him to get hurt, Luna...”

“We need to tell them, then, Siwon—”

The doors upstairs shut close with a loud bang, and the two stopped talking. Jongdae looked up the stairs and saw Baekhyun coming down. He swallowed, and slowly walked into the kitchen, trying to act as normal as possible.

“Good morning,” he mumbled, approaching the fridge. Baekhyun came to the room only moments after him.

“Good morning, everyone,” the elder smiled tiredly, sitting at the table beside his father.

“I told you to give up your research and go to sleep, Baekhyun. You’ll get sick,” Siwon said, frowning at his son.

“And I told you I couldn’t sleep because of the storm, dad,” he shrugged, looking up at Jongdae, “Dae, would you mind passing me some coffee, please?” Jongdae didn’t answer, but pouring an additional cup of black liquid, he passed it to his friend. “I’ll just go to sleep after lectures, dad, it’s not a big deal.”

“You need to work on your sleeping schedule, Baekhyun,” Jongdae’s mother spoke softly, “you’ve been staying up so late lately, studying, and both of you missed dinner yesterday. Where have you been all day? And please, don’t tell me you were in a library,” she groaned, putting a pile of pancakes on the table.

“I promise I will, ‘ma, I just need to finish this one project,” he smiled at the woman and quickly stack his fork into a few pancakes, “oh, heh, well, if you don’t wanna hear that we were in a library, then we won’t say that.”

“Where were you, then?” his father asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I had detention, Baekhyun waited for me, and then we ran into a couple of… old friends,” Jongdae quickly lied, as if it was the most natural and an actual true thing.

“I didn’t know they were giving detentions at university?” his mother rose an eyebrow, beyond surprised, and Jongdae only sighed, “you’re not alone, mother, I’ve lost faith in this system, to be honest,” he mumbled, drinking his black coffee.

“And who did you run into?” she pushed further, giving her husband a side glance.

“We need to get going, Jongdae,” Baekhyun suddenly interrupted, standing up, “remember that we need to meet with the professor to discuss the presentation,” he gave the younger a pointed look and the other only nodded.

“Yeah, thank you for breakfast, we’ll see you later,” Jongdae quickly put his cap down and without sparing anyone a second glance he ran into his room to grab his bag.

“Do you want to talk about yesterday, Jongdae?” Baekhyun asked as they were walking down the sidewalk. But the younger wasn’t listening, his eyes were scanning the surroundings, fingers nervously tagging at the pockets in his jeans, his steps uneasy. “Jongdae?” the elder asked once again, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder. Jongdae jumped slightly. “Are you alright?” Baekhyun frowned.

“I—I need to tell you something,” he whispered, looking around again, and then swallowed, “do you… feel like we’re being watched, by any chance?” he mumbled after a second, giving the elder a side glance. Baekhyun quickly looked around. They were standing on a crossroad in the center of the city. But even though there were hundreds of people around them, the boy knew it was not them sending chills down his spine. So, he looked back at Jongdae, and nodded slightly, to let the other know he felt the same unease. The younger tilted his head lightly in the direction of an underground, quickly following the crowd.

“Do you think it’s them?” Baekhyun mumbled, pressing his shoulder into Jongdae’s.

“Them, or the _gods_,” he quickly answered, not sparing his friend a single look, as he just pushed him into the first wagon that stopped next to them. Baekhyun gave him a terrified, yet confused look, but as it was the rush hour and the underground was packed with people, Jongdae only placed a finger against his own lips, signaling the other not to speak just yet. He then looked at a map above their heads, trying to figure out where exactly they were going. Only seconds later, lights started flickering inside the wagon, and Jongdae frowned. He didn’t want to do it, but his mind couldn’t stop his eyes from wondering towards Baekhyun. The elder kept on nervously looking around, breathing rather fast. “Calm down,” Jongdae mumbled through his teeth, “are _you_ doing this?” He asked, lifting his eyes up to indicate the flickering lights.

“How the hell would _I_ be doing it?” Baekhyun gritted, and then the wagon stopped in the middle of the tunnel, all lights going off. Baekhyun swallowed hard. “What is going on?”

Baekhyun hated closed, dark spaces.

“Calm down, Baekhyun, it’s alright,” Jongdae quickly reached down between them to grab his friend’s hand and squeeze it. Red emergency lights lit up above their heads and the wagon filled with groans and curses of other passengers. “Yah!” Someone suddenly exclaimed, and then another person and another one. Doors at the end of the wagon opened, and someone walked in, pushing through to get to the middle.

Jongdae’s and Baekhyun’s hearts started beating faster, adrenaline gathered and rushed through their veins. “I don’t like it, Jongdae. Something is wrong,” Baekhyun mumbled, looking around in panic, searching for a way to get out. He _really_ hated closed, dark spaces. Jongdae felt panic rise inside of him, as well, so tightening his grip on the other’s hand he started pushing forward, in the opposite direction to the newcomer. People around them were cursing and yelling at them, but they thought little of it. All cells in their bodies were telling them to run, so they had to do the second-best thing—push through as fast as possible. Suddenly, Baekhyun felt a tight grip on his wrist and as he looked down, he saw black claws gripping into his skin, dark and dirty skin in great contrast to his fair one, even in the dim light of the emergency light. A yell threatened to escape his throat, but he bit down on his tongue and swallowed it, as one glimpse at people around him made him realize no one else must have seen it. He must have been _imagining _things.

“What the—” he heard Jongdae’s breathy voice coming to him as if from behind a wall, and in a blink of an eye he was standing on top of a building, his ears filled with the heavy noise of the city, and he was momentarily blinded by the sun hitting his eyes. “—fuck,” came the end of Jongdae’s course, and as Baekhyun turned around he came face to face with Jongin.

“You need to be more careful, especially now,” the man spoke calmly, looking at both of the students. Jongdae bit his lower lip staring at the stranger hard. “You’re being hunted.”

“Stop saying that,” Baekhyun whispered, “it’s nothing. Nothing even happened down there—” Jongin looked down at Baekhyun’s wrist, “she touched you, didn’t she,” Jongin said, bringing his eyes to look into the other’s, “the Erynie.”

“E—Erynie?” Jongdae mumbled, surprised, and quickly looked at his friend, “what?”

“N—nothing,” Baekhyun replied, abashed. “Are you even listening to what he’s saying? _Erynie_, Jongdae?!”

“But you saw it, Baekhyun, didn’t you? You saw what caught your hand.”

Baekhyun took a breath in and then out, and looked towards Jongdae desperately. He wanted out. Out of whatever was happening. But when he looked at his friend, he was no longer sure the other wanted to same. Something has changed in him, in his eyes, and Baekhyun couldn’t put a name to it. “Jongdae,” he begged, “let’s go.” The younger nodded, never saying a thing, but also never taking a step. “Jongdae!” Baekhyun whined loudly, his stomach twisting. But the other just stared between him and Jongin, his eyes everchanging.

“You know something, don’t you?” Jongin asked, a spark appearing in his eyes. Jongdae swallowed loudly. “What do you know?” the stranger pushed. But Jongdae remained silent, overwhelmed with confusion. Jongin opened his mouth to say something, when a groan espaced Baekhyun’s lips as the eldest’s knees bent and he quickly grabbed his left hand. It felt as if it was on fire. When they looked down on the boy’s wrist it was burning bright red and there was an imprint of long claws on it. “They marked you,” Jongin whispered, “you’re not safe here,” he quickly looked around and as quickly as possible teleported all of them out of the roof.

When Jongdae blinked again, they were in a rather spacious apartment, very modern and clean, almost spotless, like a hospital. Everything was kept in neutral colors and the space felt… lifeless.

“Jongin?” the heard a somewhat familiar voice, “what are you— what have you done?!” someone squeaked, “hyung’s gonna be so mad!”

“Sehun!” Jongin yelled, and when ringing stopped in Jongdae’s ears, he managed to focus his eyes on the person on the other end of the room. It was the tall boy from the day before. “They’re in danger! Baekhyun was marked!” he hissed, holding Baekhyun’s hand up to show the red mark to the other boy. Sehun inhaled loudly and dropping his bowl on the nearest table he jogged towards them.

“How did it happen?!” the tall boy asked, his eyes wide.

“They found them,” Jongin mumbled, “what do we do?”

“We gotta get Yixing here. He’ll know what to do,” Sehun stood up and was about to grab his phone when Jongin stopped him.

“I’ll get him here faster, just tell me where he is now, I’ll get him,” he said and Sehun nodded. He told the other everything he knew and Jongin once again disappeared into thin air.

Suddenly, the room got overwhelming quiet, heavy awkwardness and reminisces of last night hanging heavily among the boys. Baekhyun fell to the ground, his legs giving up on him, and as he was panting heavily, he looked up at Jongdae with a pleading gaze. He needed help, and Jongdae knew that, but there was nothing he could do. He was paralyzed.

A second later Jongin reappeared in the room with three other men. “Baekhyun!” Chanyeol exclaimed and was about to approach the boy on the floor, ready to comfort him, when he was brutally stopped by a pull on his shoulder by the eldest of them. The two only exchanged glances, but the tall boy exhaled, and just as his shoulders dropped, he took a step back and let Yixing approach the boy.

“How are you feeling?” the men asked the boy on the floor, but Baekhyun didn’t reply. He opened his mouth a few times, but no words came out. “I can take care of it,” the black-haired man spoke softly, lightly touching Baekhyun’s hand, “if only you let me,” he smiled, but the boy only adverted his hand, bringing in close to his chest. His eyes were full of fear. “Baekhyun,” Yixing spoke again, and his voice was soothing and calming, “I can make the pain go away,” he said and extended his hand. Baekhyun looked up at Jongdae, conflicted, and the younger felt his stomach make its way up to his throat. He felt sick. “I promise, it will not hurt,” Yixing added, and as Baekhyun looked the elder in the eyes, he suddenly felt at peace. Calm. He nodded slightly and extended his hand for the other to take it. When the elder covered the burnt mark with his hand, they can all see a faint white light from underneath his fingers, and once he let go of Baekhyun’s hand, there was only a lightly pink mark left on his wrist. But it did not burn anymore. “I cannot completely get rid of it, but I can make the pain go away,” he smile softly and Baekhyun only nodded. When he looked up to look at Jongdae, he frowned. The younger looked like he was about to faint. Everyone else must have realized as well, as a second later there was Minseok standing next to the boy, holding him up.

“Are you alright?” he asked, and although there was still a part of Jongdae’s brain that wanted to make a snarky comment at the stranger that he _was not in fact alright_, he didn’t have enough strength in himself.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” he mumbled, and Minseok instantly wrapped his arm around the younger’s waist and led him to the bathroom. A moment later Jongdae was hugging the toilet, vomiting. Minseok was standing next to him, looking at the younger with pity and longing. He felt like he should do something, comfort the younger in any way, but he also felt like he had no right to do so. He felt really conflicted. When Jongdae was done and leant against the cold wall, panting, Minseok knelt next to him and extended a hand with a cold towel in hand. Jongdae looked at him confused, but the elder haven’t done anything, just kept his hand extended.

“You’re sweating. Cool yourself down a little,” he said in a calm voice and Jongdae swallowed hard. His stomach twisted when he saw the look on the other’s face—of long forgotten nostalgy; when the words hit his ears, when he looked at his extended hand and the towel at the palm of it. It all felt too familiar. Like it has already happened before. Long time ago. He accepted the towel with a shaking hand and wiped his face and neck with it. “Here,” Minseok spoke again, “there’s a toothbrush and some toothpaste by the sink,” he pointed towards a cupboard beside Jongdae, “you can brush your teeth and wash your face if you need.” Jongdae looked at him, and Minseok sighed, “don’t worry, it hasn’t been used before,” he cleared and left the bathroom.

“How is he?” Yixing asked, approaching Minseok the moment the eldest walked into the living room.

“Shaken, but he will be fine,” he replied, sighing. “How are you, Baekhyun?” he asked looking at the boy curled in a ball on the couch. He was just sitting there, tears running down his face. He was so confused, so lost, so in the _dark_.

“He hasn’t said anything, yet,” Yixing mumbled, “they must be shaken pretty badly.”

Minseok nodded, and then something shone in his eyes as he looked around the room, “Jongin!” he raised his voice and a moment later the young man was standing in front of him. He raised an eyebrow, even though he knew what the elder wanted to ask, “how did you… how were you…” he started, but the younger interrupted him.

“I was keeping an eye on them,” he whispered, “I hopped they would lead me to Kyungsoo, hyung,” he mumbled, and his eyes shone. He bit his lower lip nervously. Yixing’s features softened, and Minseok only nodded. “I just want to see him…”

“You will, Jongin,” Yixing spoke calmly, “we will find them… don’t worry.”

“How can you be so calm, Yixing?” Jongin asked, “what if they are in danger as well? What if Kyungsoo and Junmyeon are being hunted as well? And we don’t even know where they are! They don’t even know that they are in danger!” Jongin raised his voice, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Jongin, calm down,” Minseok said, but the younger paid him no attention.

“What if the same thing happened to Junmyeon?” Jongin asked, mentioning towards Baekhyun, “what if they are—”

“They’re not,” Yixing said harshly, his eyes getting darker, “nothing bad happened to them, Jongin. We would’ve known if the gods got to them first.”

“How can you be so sure?” Jongin whined and Yixing only furrowed his eyebrows. Truth be said, he could not be sure. He could only hope. “I thought so,” Jongin spat and disappeared.

“We’ll deal with him later,” Minseok mumbled, placing a hand on Yixing’s shoulder, “don’t think of his words. They are alright. They need to be,” he assured the other, looking at him with a steady gaze. Yixing nodded, but his heart was already filled with worry and doubt.


	6. V

The rain outside was pouring, banging against the thin glass of the apartment windows. The heavy clouds hanging beneath the sky were casting a dark shadow over Seoul. Inside, although it was only midday, the lights were already on. A clock on the wall seemed louder than it usually would, as if it was competing with the rain outside. And when it stroked twelve, it appeared to be creating its own thunderstorm in the closed space of the flat.

Baekhyun shivered, when he heard the clock, and looked around confused, it was as if he was woken up from a heavy dream. As he looked around, he realized how cold and empty the place appeared. Raising his eyes up higher, he spotted three figures on the other side of the apartment, whispering to each other in the kitchen across from him. As he looked from one to the other, he noticed Minseok staring head of himself intensively. He was about to turn his gaze to follow the elder’s, curious as to what captivated the man so bad, when Chanyeol looked up and their eyes met. The other smiled softly and sympathetically at Baekhyun, and the boy only swallowed. He quickly adverted his eyes and turned around, looking for his friend. He found Jongdae standing by the window behind the couch, staring at the world outside, deeply in thought. Baekhyun frowned, and as he looked back at the eldest of them once more, he realized Minseok’s gaze was focused on Jongdae.

He stood up and approached his friend and placed a hand on the younger’s shoulder. Jongdae shivered under the touch, but as he looked Baekhyun in the eyes, he forced a smile. Baekhyun looked his friend up and down carefully, noticing the small details that gave away the hidden fear and bother. The way Jongdae’s skin was paler than usual; the way his eyes kept on moving from one object to another, unable to focus; the way his fingers were playing with a ring on his hand; the way his shoulders tensed, and his breath hitched when he approached him.

“What is going on?” he asked in a whisper, frowning his eyebrows. And although Baekhyun knew very well what was going on, it took him by surprise when Jongdae didn’t answer, just looked away. Then he looked back at Baekhyun again, pain and confusing evident in his eyes, but he never said a word. He just looked away once more. Baekhyun was ready to push to get answers, but the door to the apartment opened and someone walked in.

“I brought food!” Sehun yelled, startling everyone inside. “Wow, it’s worse than a graveyard in here,” he mumbled, looking around at everyone. He placed the bags with takeout on the table and neared the boys by the window. He smiled softly at them, and said “would you wanna eat something? I don’t really know what I’ve brought, but I hope it’s good.”

As they all sat down by the table to eat, the grave silence was weighing on everyone. The food was slowly getting cold, but no one made the first move to dig in.

“What are we even eating?” Chanyeol asked, taking a piece of tofu and raising it up from the cold soup. He took a bit and then spit it out, “that’s just nasty!”

Baekhyun chuckled quietly to himself, and everyone looked at him. “For starters, it should be warm,” he said standing up and taking the soup with him back to the kitchen. He opened a few cupboards and once he found a pot, he started warming the soup up.

“Should this also be warm?” Sehun asked, pointing at some kimchi.

“This one’s just alright cold,” Baekhyun replied.

“What about this?” Chanyeol asked, pointing at some fishcake.

“Also, good cold,” came the answer. They talked like that for a few minutes, Sehun and Chanyeol asking food questions and Baekhyun giving them short answers. When the soup was finally heated up, and Baekhyun sat down by the table again, Chanyeol quickly moved to have a try. This time, he declared tofu more suitable to his taste. After him, Sehun dug into what was on the table, and slowly Yixing and Minseok followed. Only Jongdae remained unmoved, his gaze focused on something on the table, but never anything in particular.

“Are you alright?” Minseok finally asked, raising an eyebrow, “you’re oddly quiet, Jongdae.” Upon hearing his name, Jongdae averted his gaze from whatever he was focusing it on, and looked around, trying to establish who was the one calling him. He felt as if he was walking in a fog.

“Dae,” Baekhyun frowned, nudging his friend in the ribs. Jongdae quickly looked at him, his gaze fogged. “What is wrong with you?” Baekhyun asked, concerned. “What has happened?”

Jongdae swallowed and as he looked around at everyone at the table, he took a deep breath in. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed them again. Then again and again, but as he was unable to form a coherent thought, he ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t even know how to say it,” he finally whispered, looking Baekhyun in the eyes. The elder frowned. He knew something wasn’t right. Beyond everything that had already not been right.

“Could you please excuse us for a moment?” he asked, looking at everyone else. “I think we need a minute to talk,” he said, and Jongdae only rolled his eyes.

“It’s like you’re scolding me,” he mumbled standing up.

“There’s a room down the hall,” Yixing mentioned, “take your time.”

⚚⚚⚚

“Spill, Jongdae, what the hell is going on?” Baekhyun said the moment the door closed.

Jongdae took a deep breath in and said “I’ve heard something today, Baekhyun. I’ve heard mum and dad talk about… us.”

Baekhyun nodded, “alright. And what were they talking about?”

“The same thing they say,” he whispered and pointed somewhere at the door. Baekhyun inhaled loudly. “That we are… that we’re the children of the gods.”

Baekhyun’s head spanned. “What?” he mumbled, feeling dizzy.

“And your father seemed really concerned about the fact that you were digging into the Mesopotamian myths… that you found the story of the twelve elements…”

Baekhyun sat down, unable to keep himself up any longer. And then it hit him, “that book… it was missing. The night after dad found me reading it… it was gone…”

Jongdae knelt down by his friend, “do you think that maybe… he was the one who took it?” Baekhyun confirmed, nodding. “We need to find it,” Jongdae whispered.

“Now I feel sick,” Baekhyun mumbled, looking Jongdae in the eyes, “did they say anything else?” Jongdae looked his friend in the eyes.

“Something has already happened, once,” he said after a moment, “mum said that they were lucky nothing major has happened since that last time. But I’ve no idea what it means…”

“Oh my…” Baekhyun breathed out, “my head is about to explode.”

“I know it’s a lot… and with them in it as well…” Jongdae said, nodding in the direction of the door.

“Do you think… do you think they might be telling us the truth? About… everything?”

“I have no idea what to think anymore, Baekhyun…”

They sat in silence for a moment, observing the pouring rain outside, when Baekhyun spoke again. “Do you think that our parents know the whole truth?” he asked, “about whatever the hell is going on?”

“They certainly know half of it… whatever that truth is, anymore.”

“And do you… do you think that it all could be… true? That this…” Jongdae looked at his friend and could see the other’s inner struggle in his eyes. Everything that was happening was against anything Baekhyun has ever believed in. It was against logic and laws of the natural world. “Do you think that this nightmare can coexist with our world? With the world in which people don’t freeze other to the ground, in which people don’t create fair out of thin air… in which they don’t just disappear into thin air and… monsters with claws don’t imprint their marks on people’s skin…” he mumbled, looking down at his wrist. His voice broke and madness clouded his eyes. “In a world in which I don’t just pop light out,” he cried out and a tear roll down his cheek as his breathing quickened. Jongdae quickly leant forward to hug the elder.

“Shhh,” he whispered, caressing the other’s hair, “we’ll figure it out… we’ll figure it out.”

“But how, Jongdae? How will we ever figure it out?”

Jongdae looked towards the door. “We’ll start with what we have,” he mumbled, “and we’ll ask a few questions.”

⚚⚚⚚

When they walked back to the living room, four pairs of eyes looked up at them. Jongdae cleared his throat and looked at Minseok. “It seemed like you were very desperate to tell us something yesterday,” he stated and the other raised his eyebrow, “here’s your second chance. Tell us what you wanted to say yesterday, we’ll listen.”

“Hmmm,” Minseok mused, “what about the change of heart?”

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Jongdae said, his gaze steady on the elder. They sat down on a couch facing the window, opposite another one on which Sehun and Yixing were sitting and made themselves comfortable. “What did you want to tell us?”

The other boys looked among themselves and then at the two boys in front of them.

“It’s really hard to try and explain what we want to tell you. You see, what we’re about to tell you may seem ridiculous, but you need to promise us to keep your minds open, okay?” Yixing looked at both of them, waiting for a nod.

“I presume it’s going to be a rather long story?” Jongdae asked rhetorically and stood up, “anyone wants some coffee?” And without waiting for an answer he walked into the kitchen.

“Well, not a coffee, but since I know just how long the story will be,” Chanyeol said and then looked at Baekhyun, “just about a couple of millenniums,” he winked, “I’d get some of that lunch hardly anyone touched,” he smiled and followed Jongdae to heat up the food.

Fifteen minutes later they were all sitting comfortably in the living room, with warm beverages in their hands, listening to the sound of rain hitting against the window.

“So?” Baekhyun started looking up at the strangers, “wanna start your story? So that we don’t spend millenniums sitting in here?” he proposed and looked at Chanyeol with a slight uplift in the corner of his lips. “We promise to keep our minds open… at least try to.”

Yixing took a deep breath in and started, “from what I’ve gathered, I imagine you guys don’t know much about your own heritage, am I right?” he looked at the boys, who shrugged reluctantly. “The thing is, we,” Yixing said, mentioning to all of them, “we actually go way back… back to the beginning of the universe,” he said and made a pause, waiting for the boys to freak out, chuckle or roll their eyes. To everyone’s surprise, they were calmly listening. “Each of us started to exist as pure energy, as part of nature. We create nature and the world as it exists. We are the natural order of things,” he said and looked at Baekhyun, “we are the logic, the laws and the rules of anything that exists,” he explained and the younger inhaled loudly. “Even though it seems like nothing but chaos to you know, we are the chaos that creates the order.”

He paused for a moment to let it all sink it.

“Jongin is the chaos,” he started again, “he was the one to be out of nothingness. Tao is time. He is the one making the time pass,” he said, mentioning towards the clock on the wall, “Minseok here is coldness,” he said and as the eldest opened the palm of his hand, there was a beautiful snowflake on it and a moment later there were millions of them floating around the whole room. Jongdae looked at it in awe, and his heart skipped. Suddenly, he felt as if he was somewhere else, somewhere dark and cold. And there were thousands of such snowflakes floating around him. And then he blinked and was back in the room again.

“Jongdae?” he heard Baekhyun’s voice, but it still seemed as if it was coming from somewhere far away, “is everything alright?”

He blinked again and the world came to focus, “yeah, I’m fine. Please, do carry on,” he said looking at Yixing. But something lingered on his heart, a feeling he couldn’t shake. His gaze was constantly running towards the elder, the unsettling feeling spreading through his veins.

“You, Jongdae, are the lightning,” Yixing said, looking intensively at the boy, “you control thunders.” A shiver ran down Jongdae’s spine, and his gaze once again ran towards Minseok. As if he was looking for comfort. And then he quickly adverted his gaze towards the rain and the uneasy sky, doing his best to stay calm. “You, Baekhyun, are the light. The two of you are more connected then you might think,” Yixing smiled at the two of them, and the boys only looked at each other, breathing in at the same time. “Chanyeol is fire and warmth,” he said and looked at the boy sitting next to him, and as Chanyeol opened his palm, a small ball of fire lit up above it. Baekhyun inhaled deeply and flinched a little. “Junmyeon is water, and Kyungsoo is earth—”

“Kyungsoo? Do Kyungsoo and Kim Junmyeon?!” Jongdae mumbled, struck by the information. Yixing frowned.

“Do you know Junmyeon?” Yixing mumbled, his voice weak, and eyes focused on Jongdae. Minseok, Chanyeol and Sehun quickly looked at their friend.

Both Jongdae and Baekhyun nodded, “yeah, we know both of them,” Baekhyun said, “why?”

Yixing was so stunned he was not able to say anything else. Minseok quickly cleared his throat and picked up where the other left off, “Sehun, here,” he mentioned at the younger, “is wind. And then there is Kris, the Moon, and Luhan, the Sun. Yixing is harmony. It is because of him that there is balance in the universe. You recalled Genesis and the Mayans and the Mesopotamian myths. It was none of them that took their believes from the other. It was all of them who took it from us. All the stories about the beginning of the world where taken from us. We are the beginning of it all,” he said, looking at the boys. “The thing is, we’ve been the ones who’s been there from the dawn of creation. We made it all possible,” he spoke, looking outside the window.

“Then why don’t we remember any one it? Why don’t we know any of it, or any of you?” Jongdae asked, his voice almost accusing.

“Because something happened,” Sehun said when no one wanted to follow the question, “something happened that changed everything for us.”

“What was it?” Jongdae looked at the blond, posing the question.

“You and the Greek gods,” Sehun said and heavy silence fell above all of them.

⚚⚚⚚

Junmyeon looked outside the window and sighed as the heavy rain poured down from the sky. He stretched his arms and neck and taking a deep breath in jumped into the cold water of the swimming pool. The moment his body made it fully underneath the surface of the water, he felt all the worries and stress leaving him. He smiled and started moving his arms and legs as fast as he could. Twenty-five lengths later, he swam up and took a deep breath in.

“How was it, Soo?” he asked, a big smile on his lips, as he looked up at his friend. “Did I break it?”

“Eight minutes twenty-four seconds,” the other boy replied, looking down at the phone in his hand, “I think you broke your own record,” he smiled at Junmyeon, high fiving him, “good job!”

“Do you think I could beat this one?” he asked, and his eyes shone even brighter, “I feel like I could make it down to eight minutes. And then six. I want to make it beneath four! Or maybe three!”

“Jun, I know you’re the son of Poseidon, but you’d need to have literal fins for that,” the other laughed, helping his friend out of water. Junmyeon laughed, accepting his friend’s help.

“There will come a day I’ll learn how to do that!” the elder joked, “Kyungsoo, how do you feel about a chill movie night and some dinner, hmm?”

“Are you asking just because you want me to cook, again?” the younger asked, looking at his friend pointedly.

“Busted. So?”

Kyungsoo sighed, looking outside, “I would love to, Jun, but I’m so exhausted after the exams and with school in general, can we just go out and have a drink somewhere?” he pleaded as they walked towards the exit out of the swimming pool area. Junmyeon laughed but agreed.

“No worries, Soo. You’ve been helping me out so much lately, it’s my treat! But!” he quickly added, “only up to the third bottle of soju, my friend! After that, it’s a split!” Kyungsoo laughed at his friend, and as the elder walked into the changing room, he went outside to wait from him in front of the building.

Kyungsoo liked when it rained, and he loved it even more right after the rain, when the whole world smelt fresh. He looked around and as he realized there was no one around, he knelt down and grabbed a handful of dirt in his hand. A smile made it up his lips and he took a deep breath it. He felt truly alive. And timeless.

“Let’s go partyyy!!!!” Junmyeon exclaimed, stepping outside to join his friend twenty minutes later. Kyungsoo stood up from the ground and looked up at his friend.

“It’s twelve thirty in the afternoon, Jun. How about we leave around five at least, hmm?” They looked at each other for a few seconds and then Junmyeon spoke:

“You’re gonna go study, don’t you?”

“I already skipped classes for you, today, let me have my fair share of life and academic success, alright?”

“You’re a half god, Kyungsoo, why do you care about uni so much?” the elder asked, walking up to the car.

“It’s not necessarily something I can turn into a career, you know.”

⚚⚚⚚

“Me?” Jongdae asked, stunned, and felt the heaviness of everyone’s gaze on him.

“It was you who led to our fall down. You are the reason we were separated and weakened,” Sehun said, his eyes full of fire as he looked the other boy.

“Sehun,” Minseok spoke sharply, looking at the younger, “that’s enough!”

“Let him speak,” Jongdae said, looking at the elder, “I wanna know the whole story you’ve got to tell.”

“We’ve been there from the dawn of time, through the rise and fall of every civilization, every sort of gods and spirits, we’ve seen and experienced it all. And then we happened to be in the ancient Greece… wrong place and wrong time. The thing is, Jongdae, nobody truly knows what happened, but it started with you and you took Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Junmyeon down with you. You trusted the wrong god and they fooled you and defeated you. That’s another thing that we don’t know—how did they manage to defeat a being so much more powerful then them? How did they manage to trap all four of you and cast away Kris and Luhan? You see, I am pretty sure I know how it went down with you,” he said, looking Jongdae in the eyes, “not only have you always had a big mouth but also a hugely soft spot for wine. I see how they could’ve fooled you… but for you to take three others down with you and damn all of us? That I still don’t understand,” Sehun said, his eyes glassy from tears threatening to fall down. “You took the only thing that ever mattered away from me,” he whispered and looked away.

“Sehun, that was unnecessary,” Chanyeol barked, but the younger remained unbothered. “Don’t listen to him, Jongdae. He sounds more judgemental than he is in reality. Don’t take it personally.”

“I’m sorry,” Jongdae just said, and Sehun looked at him, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. What any of you is talking about. And although all of it sounds made up and truly unbelievable… the pain in your voice convinced me to believe in more than I would like to admit… for whatever way I ever caused you pain, I am truly sorry.”

Sehun never said anything, but the look in his eyes softened.

“What happened was,” Chanyeol picked up, “that we don’t know what happened. But the thing is, what Yixing and Minseok just said, this is all true, and then what Sehun said is partially true as well. Something happened between you and the gods that none of us truly knows about that took you all from us, separated us and led to out downfall. They trapped your souls in magical items and took you hostage for over a millennium. It was only over twenty years ago that your souls were freed.”

Yixing, Chanyeol and Minseok took something out of their pockets. There were objects resting on the palm of their hands, each different, yet all seemingly familiar to the boys. Just looking at them made them feel uneasy. Jongdae and Bakehyun moved further into the couch, as if trying to get away from the objects. “These are the prisons of your souls,” Chanyeol explained, looking at the piece of glass in his hand, “this is where you were trapped for thousands of years…”

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun whispered, “why does it feel so damn familiar?”

“What happened twenty years ago?” Jongdae asked, looking at the stone resting in Minseok’s palm.

“We aren’t humans, we are more of spirits… forces of nature. Therefore, when they trapped you, they trapped an essence of existence. A literal force of nature,” Minseok started explaining, “therefore, it was either us saving you,” he said, looking down at the ground, “which never happened and would have never happened, probably,” he confessed in embarrassment, “or them making a mistake and trapping that essence in a container… a soulless embodiment of life. Which is a human child. When the gods, in this manner your parents, had sex with your human parents, they created such a container. A soulless human being. And when in that act of creating these,” he said, raising the stone in his hand, “touched the human body, your essence was freed and therefore trapped in the child’s body. In the form of you that you’re existing in currently.”

“You said very clearly, last time, that you guys are not gods. And now you’ve just told us that we’re both… whatever you are and gods at the same time. Then what does it make us?” Baekhyun asked, looking between the boys.

“You are one third us, one third gods, one third humans,” Yixing explained, “it’s something we don’t yet know how to deal with… but we’ll figure it out.”

“Deal with? What do you mean?”

“The innocence and purity of your existence has been stained. Humanity makes you mortal. Divine nature of the gods makes you transient,” Minseok sighed, “all if it makes you weak.”

Baekhyun and Jongdae looked at each other, thorn between their minds and hearts.


End file.
